In general, armhole shapes for attaching sleeves of knitwear are roughly classified into a set-in sleeve type one and a raglan sleeve type one, as shown in JP Examined Patent Publication No. Hei 4-15301 (Patent Document 1), and JP Laid-open (Unexamined) Patent Publication No. Hei-11-61603 (Patent Document 2), for example.
As for the set-in sleeve, as shown in FIG. 1 of Patent Document 1 and FIG. 1 of Patent Document 2, the front and back bodies are each knitted to have a hem part, side parts, armhole parts formed at upper ends of the side parts, and shoulder-line parts extending along one's shoulder line formed when wearing knitwear. The armhole parts are formed to have straight-line portions extending in the same direction as the side parts, from upper end portions of which the shoulder line parts extend toward a neckline. After the sleeves are jointed to the front and back bodies along their respective armhole parts, the shoulder-line parts of the front and back bodies are joined together.
As for the raglan sleeve, as shown in FIG. 4 of Patent Document 1 and FIG. 11 of Patent Document 2, the front and back bodies are each knitted to have a hem part, side parts, slant-line parts slanted linearly from upper ends of the side parts toward a neckline. The sleeves, which are knitted to cover one's arms and shoulder when wearing the knitwear, are joined to the slant-line parts of the bodies so that a part of the neckline can be formed by upper end portions of the sleeves.
Meanwhile, knitwear of combination of one body shaped for the set-in sleeve and the other body shaped for the raglan sleeve has never been proposed so far. The reasons for no existence of such designed knitwear of mixed sleeves are as follows.
For the set-in sleeve, the body is formed to have, at the armhole parts thereof, the straight-line portions extending in the same direction as the side parts, so that when joined to the straight-line portions of the body, the set-in sleeves are sequentially joined thereto to form right angle with the straight-line portions (Cf. FIG. 1 of Patent Document 2).
For the raglan sleeve, the body is formed to have the slant-line parts, so that when joined to the body, the raglan sleeves are sequentially joined to the slant-line parts of the body obliquely (Cf. FIG. 11 of Patent Document 2).
From comparison between the set-in sleeve and the raglan sleeve on a knitted fabric length of a joining portion of the sleeve to the body, it is found that the length of the slant-line parts for the raglan sleeve is larger than the length of the armhole parts for the set-in sleeve. Accordingly, the length of the joining portion of the sleeve joined to the body shaped for the raglan sleeve is also larger than that of the joining portion of the sleeve joined to the body shaped for the set-in sleeve.
Thus, the set-in sleeve and the raglan sleeve provide different lengths for the joining portion between the body and the sleeve. Due to this, when the one body shaped for the set-in sleeve and the other body shaped for the raglan sleeve are concurrently knitted with the same number of courses, the body shaped for the raglan sleeve cannot be coincidentally jointed to the sleeves due to the difference in length of the joining portion therebetween.
For the set-in sleeve, it is general that the body and the sleeves are often knitted with a ratio of the number of courses of the body knitted to the number of courses of the sleeve knitted of 2:1, when joined together. For the raglan sleeve, it is general that the body and the sleeves are often knitted with a ratio of the number of courses of the body knitted to the number of courses of the sleeve knitted of 1:1, when joined together.
When the front and back bodies, one of which is shaped for the set-in sleeve and the other of which is shaped for the raglan sleeve, and the sleeves are knitted with a ratio of the number of courses of the bodies knitted to the number of courses of the sleeves knitted of 2:1, the body on the raglan sleeve side is oversupplied with the number of stitches at the joining portion thereof.
When the front and back bodies and the sleeves are knitted with a ratio of the number of courses of the front body (set-in sleeve) knitted to the number of courses of the sleeve knitted of 2:1 and with a ratio of the number of courses of the back body (raglan sleeve) knitted to the number of courses of the sleeve knitted of 1:1, the number of courses of the sleeves knitted required for joining together a shoulder portion of the set-in sleeve and a sleeve portion of the raglan sleeve at the shoulder parts is determined and the number of courses of the back body knitted with the ratio of the number of courses of the back body knitted to the number of courses of the sleeve knitted of 1:1 is also determined.
Thus, regardless of the number of courses of the front body knitted, the number of courses of the back body knitted is determined, due to which the back body has an increased number of courses knitted over the front body and is put in oversupply.
For the reasons mentioned above, the knitwear of mixed set-in and raglan sleeves is not yet commercialized successfully.